The type of electrical plug blade wire crimp known in the art (as shown in FIG. 1) has a wire cradle with two outwardly extending crimp ears and a flat bottom surface on which a stranded wire lies. The stranded wire is often not centered between the crimp ears prior to crimping, leading to finished crimps that are either lop-sided or that have not captured all of the wire strands. Either of these imperfect crimps could lead to contact failure between the stranded wire and the plug blade and a potential failure of the Underwriters' Laboratories standard pull test, leading to overall plug failure and to a potentially hazardous electrical condition for the user.
There is presently a need for a wire crimp design that provides for improved wire termination and crimping, so as to avoid the problems of the prior art. There is also a need for a padded range-style electrical plug blade for use in 30 to 60 ampere applications, as the prior art is limited to padded electrical plug blades for use in 15 ampere applications. The embodiments of the present invention satisfy those needs.